Ames Pennington

(they/he)

Ames Pennington is a writer and director. Their independent debut feature, TOPS, is a genre-busting documentary inspired by chaotic 90s British TV. At BFI FLARE Festival 2024 it was named in both Evening Standard and AnOther Mag’s Top 10 picks of the festival, winning the Audience Award at Bradford Queer Film Festival and long listed for a BIFA Maverick Award 2024. With huge success in the UK festival circuit TOPS also went on to screen internationally: including GAZE International LGBTQIA+ Film Festival, Dublin, Kashish Pride Film Festival, Mumbai, NEWFEST LGBTQIA+ Film Festival, New York, and Crossings, Norway. In 2023, their short film Where’s Danny? won the Iris Prize’s Community Award in 2023, the same year they were a finalist at Screenshot – a comedy writing and performing competition hosted by SISTER and South of the River Pictures.

Ames is currently in early development of their first narrative feature TRANSOM, a comedy-heist with a trans art-school twist, as well as writing a new TV pilot.